


Familial ties

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Child Abandonment, Confrontations, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Drama, Family History, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Post-X-Men: Dark Phoenix (Movie), Team as Family, it's the scene from the xmen movies that everyone wanted but nobody got, this is going to hurt guys, you know the one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 16:27:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20745215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: Peter knows his father is Magneto no matter how much he tries to deny it, and even though Kurt doesn't know who his mother is, Professor X is more than happy to help him figure it out.I think it's about time we rejoined some families, don't you?





	1. Peter and Erik

**Author's Note:**

> Whatever backstory wasn't described to us in the movies I took it from the books, and apparently the name of Peter's mother in the comics is the name of Magneto's dead wife in the movies??? Anyway, you know what's going to happen, it's going to hurt, and I apologise in advance.

It hadn’t taken Peter long to find him, sitting on a stone bench in a secluded part of the garden, but now that he had found him he wasn’t exactly sure what to do.

He didn’t _look_ like his dad, but he knew without a doubt that he was. Then again, Peter didn’t know what his dad was supposed to look like, not entirely, but the man in front of him looked nothing like Peter or his sister.

His mother had told him about the mutant supervillain who could bend metal to his will and now that Peter was looking at him, really looking at him for the first time, he wasn’t sure if he should call him ‘Erik’ or ‘Magneto’ or ‘dad’. Maybe that would be weird.

“You’re staring, boy,” Magneto said before Peter even had the chance to figure out what he wanted to say. “What do you need?”

Straight to the point, Peter thought as he took a step forward. “Uh, do you know who I am, Mr Magneto Sir?”

Magneto turned around and looked him over. There was no recognition in his eyes, no light bulb moment, not realization. Just indifference and impatience. “You’re the speedster who saved me from imprisonment in the Pentagon and who never seems able to keep his mouth shut. Am I wrong? And please, for the love of God, just call me Erik.”

“No, uh,” Peter ran a hand through his hair. This might have been the first time he was ever at a loss for words. “I mean, you’re right, but that’s not what I meant.”

Sighing, Erik turned fully to face him and seemed like he was at least willing to hear Peter out. “Then who are you, exactly?”

In the span of five seconds, Peter could list about a thousand things he would rather have been doing than this, but Erik was looking at him expectantly, and he couldn’t run away now. It was too late for that. “My name is Pietro Maximoff, but people call me Peter,” he said and Erik immediately stiffened. “I have a little sister named Wanda. My mother’s name is Magda, but she goes by Margret. I never knew my father, but the only thing I was told was that he was a mutant like me and that he could control metal.”

Erik stood up from the stone bench, eyes transfixed on Peter. He didn’t seem like he believed him, but he was willing to listen. Slightly panicked and very much regretting his decision, Peter continued, much less confident now. “I came to this school to find you, but I found it blown up instead. I didn’t know anything about you, except that you were a mutant that some people called a monster, and that I had helped you escape from the Pentagon, and that you were close with the Professor,”

He took a deep breath, felt himself getting restless, and spoke quicker almost to the point of rambling just to compensate. “And I wanted to tell you for a long time, you know? I mean, I’ve known for a while, and I wanted to tell you back when we were fighting that crazy blue god who broke my legs but I didn’t want you to know in case I ruined it. You know?”

“Peter, I uh, I don’t...” Erik trailed off. It was the first time Peter had ever seen him speechless. “I never knew. Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I am. Totally sure, 100%.” Peter scuffed his feet on the ground. “My mother didn’t tell me much, but over time she started to slip up, and she told me that my dad was in prison for doing a really bad thing, and that he used to be a good guy, and that nobody really knows who or where he is. And, well, you’re the only mutant that I’ve ever heard of that can control metal, so...” he trailed off. He was rambling. Erik was looking at him. “Yeah,”

Erik took a step forward, and Peter didn’t move. Mostly because his body was conflicted-part of him wanted to rush forward and hug the man who was defiantly his father and the other half to run away as fast as he possibly could, but all that happened was him standing completely still, rooted to the ground. “Peter I... I don’t know how this could be possible. I already had a family, and that was taken from me years ago. I’ve never heard about Magda... _your_ Magda... having a child, let alone two, and I don’t know how that ever could have... I...”

“Is it true?” Peter asked though he wasn’t sure why he was asking. They both knew it was. Maybe he just wanted someone other than himself to say it. “Are you my dad?”

There was a deafening silence between them, so long that Peter could barely breathe, but eventually, Erik finally spoke and Peter could feel his fingers and toes tingling at an alarming speed. “I couldn’t tell you,” Erik said, brow furred, voice shaking. “I do recall your mother, but never of her having mutant children, though I suppose... it’s possible...”

Peter wanted to scream. “Right. Ok. Cool.”

Taking a step forward, Erik reached a hand out to Peter, and the look on his face was one he never wanted to see again for as long as he lived. “Peter, wait, let’s figure this out-”

But Peter was already gone, far away from Erik’s outstretched hand, and he watched hurt cross the mutants face. He licked his lips. “I guess I should have listened to my mum,” he said and tried to ignore the way his voice caught in his throat and how tight his chest felt. “She told me that trying to find you wouldn’t end up in anything good.”

“Peter, wait!” Erik shouted, arm reaching desperately towards the boy who claimed- and maybe rightly so- to be his son, but Peter was already long done, nothing but the settling dust and burnt trail on the ground to say that he was ever there at all.


	2. Kurt and Charles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, for some reason, I recall Raven putting Kurt in a river in a basket and letting him float down to the circus, but the wiki for Kurt's backstory said that it was a well, and that Azazel saved him and took him to his 'lover' at the circus?? It doesn't matter, but that imagery of the river was so vivid in my head that I was so sure I was right, but I just changed it to the well, so if that part is a little choppy and doesn't make much sense, that's why.

“Kurt,” Charles sighed again. “Stop squirming. I can’t do this if you’re not going to stay still.”

“Sorry Professor,” Kurt murmured from under him, half curled up under his desk. Charles had told him to sit somewhere more comfortable, like a chair, but Kurt had insisted that he liked being crammed under the desk, so Charles had let him go.

“Don’t be sorry,” Charles said, much lighter this time. “Just relax. I’m not going to hurt you. We both want to find out who your mother is, and if you don’t remember her it means I’ll have to dig a little deeper than usual, and it’ll be much easier if my whole concentration is on the task at hand. Alright?”

Kurt nodded. Charles placed his hands back on either side of his head.

They were seated in his office, the windows shut and the door locked, Hank taking care of any students who might need the Professor. When Kurt had appeared in the room, very shy and very scared, twisting his tail roughly in his hands like a young child would with their blankie after a nightmare, he had asked if the Professor might dive into his memory and help him discover who his parents were. Charles had immediately agreed and cleared his schedule for the rest of the day.

True to his word, Kurt stayed very still.

Charles searched, not just through Kurt’s memory but through to his past and to a time before he existed, back to his conception. It was a little strange, a little like he was drowning, but soon Charles opened his eyes on a bedroom and saw a man with red skin, a long spaded tail, fangs that glittered in the firelight, and a face that looked very similar to Kurt’s. Charles recognised him immediately, from back at the beach on the day he lost his legs and his best friend and the weeks prior. This was Azazel, and the very thought made Charles sick to his stomach, even though he probably should have expected it. They were both very similar, except in skin colour.

He couldn’t see the mother- it was from her perspective, probably because at this stage of his life, she was the closest connection to Kurt that there was. So, in an effort to search for her in particular, he swam through the darkness of Kurt’s memories and looked for his earliest one.

It was dark, and Charles could hear the swift sound of splashing water below him, and when he glanced down, he realized that his wheelchair was just inches away from butting against a small stone well. He glanced up at the woman standing at the edge of the well, and the bundle in her arms. He hoped he was wrong about what would happen next.

“I’m sorry, my dear,” Charles heard her whisper, “but they know about you now, and they will kill you if they find you. I can’t let them find you. I can’t. I won’t.” She placed a kiss on the head of the child wrapped in white linen, a little tail poking out over the edge of the fabric. “I love you,”

And then she released the bundle over the well, and the white fabric faded into the blackness below, and Kurt squealed as he fell into the darkness. Charles looked at the face of the mother in dismay, and a light went off in the distance almost like a searchlight, and her face was illuminated. Blue skin, scaled, red hair. And when she turned her face away from the well, her skin shimmered, and her voice came out masculine. “He’s not here!” She called as she walked away from the well, a different person altogether. “Let’s keep looking; they have to be around here somewhere.”

Charles was snapped back to Kurt, as he was inches from hitting the water, but they were soon encased in red smoke and then were gone. Charles could hear joyous, circus music in the background. “Take him, Margail,” Azazel said to a woman. “He needs a home now.”

Gasping, Charles was yanked out of the memory by the anchor under his hands being ripped away, and suddenly he was back in his office at the school, and Kurt had scrambled away from him, crying and trying to draw sickly gasps into his chest. Charles hadn’t meant for him to see that- the shock must have made him lose focus, but... “Oh my god,” he breathed as it all came crashing down. “Kurt, my boy, I’m so sorry...”

But Kurt wasn’t listening- his face was slick with tears, his eyes wide. He was clawing at his chest as if trying to rip open his lungs to get air into them. “My mother- she’s- _Mystique_, she-”

“Kurt, calm down,” Charles tried, even though he felt the same way. “If you don’t breathe slowly, you’ll hyperventilate, and then where would we be?”

When it became increasingly obvious that Kurt wasn’t going to calm down any time soon, Charles extended calm into his mind and watched as Kurt slowly started to breathe. His eyes glazed over, sure, but maybe that was better than him being completely overwhelmed by this new information. In fact, Charles wished he could do the same thing to himself. Raven? Had a child with Azazel? And she knew it was Kurt the whole time and didn’t say anything?

“My mother,” Kurt was mumbling. “Mystique was my mother. She... she...” but then there was a fire in his eyes, and he looked at Charles with an anger that he recognised now that he knew- he looked just like his father. He barred his fangs, tears still streaming down his face, and screamed an almighty scream. _“Get out of my head!”_

Charles blinked in surprise, and then Kurt was gone, and all that was left was the slowly dissipating blue smoke and the scent of sulphur.

He extended his mind out towards where he assumed Erik would be and said into his mind, _“Come find me. I have something we need to talk about.”_

_“Yes,”_ came Erik’s reply. _“As do I.”_


	3. Erik and Charles

Erik paced back and forth, his hands behind his back, his head down and Charles watched him with the same air of worry he felt in the centre of his chest. “What do you _mean_ you’re Peter’s father?”

“I don’t remember him or his sister,” Erik replied, still pacing, “But there is no other explanation. I have thought of it, and now that I’ve had a moment to process, and I know it to be true.”

Charles sank low into his chair and ran a hand down his face. “This is a _disaster_.”

“And the boy?” Erik whirled on Charles. “Kurt? Azazel and _Raven_ were his parents?”

“Yes,” Charles said sadly. “I suppose we should have known. Azazel and Kurt share many of the same characteristics. I believe the only difference is the colour of their skin and that Kurt’s kindness replaces Azazel’s cruelty.”

Almost as if all the strength left his legs, Erik sank into the closest chair and looked up at the ceiling and the slowly rotating fan. “But Raven... how? She knew this whole time and never said anything to him?”

“She did not,” Charles sighed. “Though I suppose now it makes sense why she went to Germany to rescue him in particular from the cage matches. And why she always kept her eye on him and insisted that she be the one to train the X-Men so she could keep an eye on Kurt. It all makes sense now.”

“Didn’t he... grow up in a circus?” Erik asked, confused. “He was an acrobat, and until this moment he was an orphan like the rest of us. Why on Earth did she leave him if she loved him so much later in life to rescue him?”

Charles shook his head. “From what I saw, the events surrounding Kurt’s abandonment were... not ideal.” He licked his lips as he tried to recall all the details that he could about Kurt’s final moments with his mother. “The people in the place they were living, they were recently made aware of Kurt’s existence. They were looking for him, hunting him down, and she threw him into that well to save his life and maybe be the one to kill him at the same time. But Azazel saved him, and gave him to another woman to raise.” He shook his head. “But she said she loved him, and I am willing to believe that she did.”

“But now Raven is dead,” Erik said, emotionless. “And he will never get to confront her about it, never get the same closure that Peter had with me. Poor boy.”

“Well,” Charles pointed out. “It’s not like Peter had any closure with you at all. He asked if you were his father, you said no, he ran away. He confronted you about it, but you didn’t confirm anything.”

“I think we both knew,” Erik said. “I think we both knew it was true no matter what I said.”

Tilting his head, Charles crossed his hands over his lap and looked at Erik strangely. “Then why did you deny it? You know he is your son- why leave him knowing that you won’t accept him?”

It looked as if the chair was trying to swallow Erik whole with how deeply he had sunken into it. “After Nina...” he trailed off. “I don’t think I’m fit to be a father. And to a _teenager_, no less. Peter is a young man whose mutant powers are more developed than Nina’s ever was- I don’t know if I can be what he needs. I didn’t want to give him hope only to tear it down when he realizes that I’m not the man he wants me to be.”

“I think he just wants a father,” Charles said gently. “I don’t think he expects you to be perfect. He came all this way to find you and risked his life to fight with us when he realized you would be there. I’m surprised he didn’t tell you back then, but I suppose I understand.”

Erik shook his head, a look of extreme fear on his face. The expression would have been comical if it were under different circumstances. “I’m not sure I can do it again, Charles.”

Charles looked at his friend sympathetically “You’re not doing anything again. You raised your daughter from the day she was born, but Peter doesn’t need that from you. He just needs you to... keep an eye on him. Help him when he needs it. You can be a good man without necessarily being a good father.”

Not looking convinced, Erik shook his head. “I certainly hope you’re right this time, old friend.”

“I usually am,” Charles replied. He looked out the window, where his students were playing in the gardens together, the air full of laughter and their faces full of smiles. “I’m worried about Kurt. You didn’t see him, Erik. All his life, he’s wanted to know where he comes from, and now he’s found out that his father is one of the most dangerous villains in the history of mutant-kind, and his mother was _Raven_, the woman who lived beside him for years and never told him, and now she’s dead and it’s too late.” He looked to the ground, where Kurt had scrambled away not an hour before. “I have never seen a student so heartbroken and horrified in all my time here.”

Even Erik looked upset, about a student he didn’t really know, no less. “Well, we can only hope that they can get through. Maybe together. Maybe not. Peter will come find me again, and then I will tell him... everything. Kurt will... survive.”

“Let’s hope you know what you’re talking about,” Charles said quietly, eyes still on the place that Kurt had disappeared. “This has been a very, _very_ long day.”


	4. Peter and Kurt

Lost in his own mind, Peter had been walking through the halls with his hands in his pockets and his head down when he heard a noise from above him- a sound so horrible and broken that Peter had to stop what he was doing and rush up the stairs that led to the roof to see what it was.

Kurt was there, curled up tightly in a corner, whimpering quietly to himself. Peter rushed up to him and crouched down beside him; pulling him to his chest and making Kurt turn his head to look at him. It was obvious that Kurt had been crying- his eyes were red and his cheeks were wet. His hair was messy as if he had been repeatedly running his hands through it. “Hey, bud, what’s wrong?”

Quickly, Kurt rubbed at his face to wipe away the tears. “N-nothing. I’m alright. Just... nothing. It’s nothing.”

“Bullshit it’s nothing,” Peter pulled away from Kurt but only far enough so he could cross his legs comfortably on the floor. “I’ve seen what nothing looks like, and it doesn’t look like this. What’s wrong? What happened? Whose ass do I have to kick?”

That surprised a laugh out of Kurt, and he wiped at his eyes while wearing a smile. “It’s my fault. I asked for it.”

“So someone did hurt you.” Peter felt himself getting angry, but Kurt shook his head.

“I asked the Professor to do something for me,” he amended. Peter immediately relaxed and let Kurt continue without any interruptions. “And it worked but uh... it didn’t go quite as planned.”

Kurt wouldn’t look at him, and Peter didn’t really know what to say. “Well?” he prompted. “What happened?”

Licking his lips, Kurt curled up again, and his tail swayed mournfully behind him. “I asked him if he could look through my memories and see if he could find my parents.”

“Really?” Peter gasped. “That’s great! Did you find them? Who are they? Can we go look for them? If they are, I’ll run you anywhere you need to go. Seriously!”

If it was possible, Kurt’s head dropped even further, and he let out one, unstoppable sob. “You can't. They’re dead. They’re both dead.”

Peter felt horrible. “Oh man, I’m sorry. Did you at least get to find out who they were?”

Reluctantly Kurt nodded. “A demon man named Azazel,” he shrunk further into himself. “Like me, but red.”

“Oh, I know that guy,” Peter thought back to the news- "He was one of the mutants who died while experimented on by some weirdo. Real evil, was one of the people who gave us mutants a bad name, right? I remember him being on the news a lot, and my little sister used to be scared that he would just appear in her bedroom at night and kill her and- sorry.” He winced. Kurt was curled up tighter now, and the ground was growing damp from where his tears trailed off his face and landed on the concrete. “I’ve got a big mouth sometimes. Don’t know when to stop. Do you... know who your mother is?”

Kurt didn’t answer right away, but eventually, he sniffled, ran a hand across his nose and said in the smallest voice Peter had ever heard, “Mystique.”

It felt like the floor was falling out from under him, and Peter felt his bones trying to vibrate out of his skin. “Raven? You don’t mean the one that just died, do you? Because she can’t be- she was teaching here for years while you were here, if she was your mother, she would have told you, right?”

“That’s why she saved me from the cages,” Kurt said quietly. “And why she stayed when she wanted to leave. She didn’t want to be here, but she didn’t want to leave me again, either.”

“Damn man, I’m sorry,” Peter said. “That must suck super balls.”

There was no reply from Kurt. Instead, he looked at his tail, swishing between them, and looked like he wanted to cry all over again. Peter decided that misery was best shared in twos, and knew how he could make the situation a little better. “Hey, if it makes you feel better, I talked to my dad today,” Kurt looked up at that, curiosity in his red, puffy eyes. “He says he doesn’t think he is, but we both know that he’s lying. My mum told me, and I mean, come on, it’s obvious.”

Curiously, Kurt tilted his head. “Who is he?”

“Oh, you know,” Peter picked up a piece of the roof that had been blown apart and tossed it back and forth in his hands. “Magneto.”

Kurt choked on his spit, “No way,”

“Yes way, dude,” Peter said. “I wouldn’t have come all the way here if it wasn’t him. He says he isn’t, but I know he is. My mum said that he was a mutant who could control metal, and how many other mutants do you know who could do that other than Magneto? Although,” he paused, “He asked me to call him Erik, so maybe I should stop referring to him as Magneto. I wonder if that’s Erik with a ‘C’ or a ‘K’?” Kurt was silent as he thought, and Peter reached over and punched him lightly in the shoulder, but Kurt flinched anyway. “I guess we’re both children of supervillains. Who knew?”

“Wow,” Kurt’s eyes were wide, his own sadness forgotten as he shared it with Peter. “_Wow_.”

“Yeah, I know,” Peter reached out and ruffled his hair. “Both of our parents abandoned us. Both our parents will never admit that they love us, but that’s ok, because now we have our own little club of unwanted freaks, hey?”

Kurt smiled, and it was like unfiltered sunlight warming Peter to the bone. “Yeah. Our own little club. Abandoned. Together.”

“That’s the spirit!” Peter beamed, clapping Kurt on the shoulder and heaving him up so they were standing side by side, Kurt standing a little taller than before, his tail swishing excitedly behind him, a beaming grin so large on his face that Peter could see his fangs. “Now, where do you want to go? Anywhere in the world, I’ll do it, just say the word.”

There was a pause between them as Kurt thought, his tongue darting out between his lips, before he decided eagerly, “Ice cream?”

“Ice cream it is,” Peter laughed. He put his hand on the back of Kurt’s neck. “Hold on tight, it’s going-”

But Kurt shook his head, smirking, and pulled away from Peter, grabbing his arm instead. “No, I’ll get us there faster,” before Peter could choke out a witty and somewhat offended retort, they were gone, and the blue mist settled in their wake.


End file.
